Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review the funding model for hospices for children and young people as part of the 10-Year Health Plan for the NHS.

Most hospices are charitable, independent organisations which receive some statutory funding for providing services within the National Health Service. The amount of funding charitable hospices receive varies by integrated care board (ICB) area, and will, in part, be dependent on the breadth of palliative and end of life care provision within each ICB catchment area.

We have committed to develop a 10-year plan to deliver an NHS fit for the future. We will carefully be considering policies, including those that impact people with palliative and end of life care needs, with input from the public, patients, health staff, and our stakeholders, including those in the hospice sector, as we develop the plan.

The engagement process has been launched, and I would encourage the palliative and end of life care sector, including hospice providers, service users and their families, to engage with that process to allow us to fully understand what is not working as well as it should and what the potential solutions are. More information is available at the following link:

https://change.nhs.uk/en-GB/